Test
Problem statement and research questions
People with dementia often forget to eat and drink, leading to dehydration and decreased well-being. We attempt to engage in discourses to remind PwD to have lunch and drink water, without causing any anxiety or embarrassment, and keep them company throughout these activities.
RQ1: "Does the robot cause PwD to eat more regularly?"
RQ2: "Does the PwD experience less negative emotions, such as agitation, sadness, embarrassment, after the interaction with the 'intelligent' robot?"
RQ3: "Does the robot remind the PwD of their hunger?"
Method
We are going to do an in-person experiment with multiple participants. Participants will be asked to pretend to be PwD and act like it.
Participants
Since it is difficult to get access to actual people with dementia, due to both time constraints and COVID, our participants' group will consist of peers from other groups and friends, who will act as if they are older people with dementia. We plan to gather around 20 people.
Experimental design
We'll be using the within-subject design. All of the participants will interact with both versions of the robot, 10 of them with version 1 first and then version 2 and the rest the reverse, to counter-balance the carryover effects.
Tasks
The participant will have to interact with the robot programmed to have a lunch discourse.
Measures
We plan on measuring the effectiveness of the discourse, both physically and emotionally. Our quantitative measure is whether the person had the lunch they were supposed to have, and the qualitative measure is the emotions that the PwD experienced before, during, and after the interaction.
Procedure
- Welcome Participants and explain what they are going to be doing.
- Have them sign the permission form.
- Participants complete a questionnaire(A) regarding their emotional state (control).
- Have version A of interaction with the robot.
- Complete questionnaire(extended version).
- Have a short interview during downtime (prepared questions).
- Have version B of interaction with the robot.
- Complete questionnaire(extended version).
- Have a short interview during downtime (prepared questions).
Material
For the experiments, we'll be using the NAO robot, as well as a laptop for the participants to complete the questionnaires on. The questionnaire will be a combination of questions regarding the emotional state of the participants, their interaction with the robot, and the music included in the interaction.